PDI-P to follow up reports of corrupt city officials

JAKARTA (JP): The City Council's Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) faction announced on Wednesday the establishment of a team to follow up reports of corruption by city officials.

"We set up the team to help fight alleged cases of corruption by city officials which have been improperly settled by the governor," team chairman Ugiek Soegihardjo said at City Council.

He said several sources had uncovered 2,947 possible corruption cases as of last year.

"Four hundred and five cases were reported by the Ministry of Home Affairs' Inspectorate General, while the City Inspectorate Agency reported 610 cases and the Mayoralty Inspectorate Office reported 721 cases.

"The Development and Finance Comptroller Agency reported 118 cases and the Supreme Audit Agency reported 65 cases, while residents reported 737 cases," he said.

He added that 63 cases of alleged corruption were reported through Vice President Megawati Soekarnoputri's post office box, and 228 cases through Governor Sutiyoso's post office box.

"It's such a pity that the city administration, through its Reform Implementation and Control Team (TP2R), didn't bring the cases to court," he said.

Ugiek said TP2R had imposed administrative sanctions on city officials in 215 cases in 1998 and 110 cases in 1999.

"It was unclear what TP2P meant by 'administrative sanctions' and what specific actions were taken," he said.

"Several officials allegedly involved in the cases have even received promotions.

"Therefore, we suggest the governor abolish the team as it has failed to perform its duties," he said.

Ugiek expected that other factions in the council would follow the lead of the PDI Perjuangan faction.

"We encourage other factions to establish similar teams or to merge into a council-run team," he said.

Another PDI Perjuangan councilor, Maringan Pangaribuan, who is the faction's deputy chairman, said the city administration seldom provided councilors with accurate information on corruption cases.

"We always rechecked the information provided by the city administration through covert field visits. It turned out that most of the information was untrue," he said.

Pangaribuan hinted that some corruption cases had been suspended by the Jakarta Prosecutor's Office.

Interviewed separately, Governor Sutiyoso said he supported the establishment of the corruption team by the PDI Perjuangan faction.

"The City's inspectorate agencies have limited manpower. Such initiatives are highly appreciated," he said.

The governor also reaffirmed his decision to resign as chief commissioner of 48 city-owned companies.

"I wanted to resign from the position even before the 1999 Law on Regional Autonomy was announced," he said.

Article 48 of the 1999 regional autonomy law prohibits provincial and regional heads from holding positions at any company, either state or privately owned. (05)